Have you ever wondered what bears are doing while you are busy with your classes? While you were raking leaves or at a football game last fall, the grizzly and black bears of Yellowstone were eating as much as they could to get ready for winter hibernation. Writer/naturalist John Muir claimed that to a bear "almost everything is food except granite!" Although bears are armed with the long claws and canine teeth of a carnivore or "meat-eater", they are actually omnivores, with a large percent of their diet being vegetation, especially grasses, sages, berries, and roots. Black and grizzly bears will eat human food and garbage when they can get it. For the safety of both people and bears, it is important to keep human foods secure and out of their reach.

Photo: Grizzly Bear Eating Garbage